Calvin Harris
Adam Richard Wiles (born 17 January 1984), better known by his stage name Calvin Harris, is a Scottish singer, songwriter, record producer, remixer and DJ. His debut album, I Created Disco, was released in 2007 and was the precursor to his top-ten singles "Acceptable in the 80s" and "The Girls". In 2009, Harris released his second studio album, Ready for the Weekend, which debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart and earned a gold certification from the British Phonographic Industry within two months of release. Its lead single, "I'm Not Alone", became Harris's first number one on the UK Singles Chart. Harris rose to widespread international prominence in 2012 with the release of his third studio album, 18 Months. Topping the UK charts, the album became his first to chart on the Billboard 200 in the US, reaching number nineteen. All eight of the album's singles; "Bounce", "Let's Go", "We'll Be Coming Back", "Sweet Nothing", "Drinking from the Bottle", "I Need Your Love", "Thinking About You" and "Feel So Close", along with "We Found Love" reached the top ten of the UK Singles Chart, making it the first album in history to have nine top-ten singles. Harris has collaborated with numerous other recording artists, including Kylie Minogue, Rita Ora, LMFAO, Florence Welch, Ellie Goulding, Ne-Yo, Cheryl Cole and Gwen Stefani. His collaboration with Rihanna led to two singles, "Where Have You Been" and "We Found Love". The latter became an international success, giving Harris his first US number-one single on the Billboard Hot 100. In 2015, the song was included in Billboard's top 10 dance-pop collaborations of all time. Harris released his fourth studio album, Motion, on 3 November 2014. It debuted at at number two in the UK and number five in the US, and became Harris's second consecutive number-one album on the Dance/Electronic Albums chart. The album's first three singles—"Under Control", "Summer" and "Blame"—all topped the UK Singles Chart, giving him seven UK number-one singles. Harris holds the record for the most top ten hits from one studio album on the UK Singles Chart with nine hits, surpassing Michael Jackson. In October 2014, he became the first artist to place three songs simultaneously on the top 10 of Billboard's Dance/Electronic Songs chart. According to Forbes, Harris was the highest-paid DJ of 2013 and 2014, as well as the 17th highest-paid celebrity of 2015. Harris has received seven Brit Award nominations—two for Best British Male, and four Grammy nominations, winning a Grammy for Best Music Video in 2013. He received the British Academy's Ivor Novello Award for Songwriter of the Year in 2013 and at the 2015 Billboard Music Awards was named Top Dance/Electronic Artist. Early life Adam Richard Wiles was born on 17 January 1984 in Dumfries, Scotland. His English parents, David Wiles, a biochemist, and Pamela, a homemaker, married in Oxford before moving to the Dumfries suburb Georgetown. He has an older sister, Sophie, and an older brother, Edward. He attended Dumfries High School, and after leaving school he stacked shelves in supermarkets and worked in a local fish processing factory in order to buy DJ gear. He was first attracted to electronic music in his teens and was recording bedroom demos by 1999. When Harris was 18 he released two songs "Da Bongos" and "Brighter Days". Both were released as 12" club singles and CD-EPs by the label Prima Facie in early 2002 under the name "Stouffer". With these singles to his credit, Harris moved from Scotland to London, hoping to learn from the local music scene. Only one of his songs was released during his time in London, "Let Me Know" with vocalist Ayah Marar on the Unabombers' 2004 live-mix CD Electric Soul, Vol. 2. With the lack of opportunities and money, and unable to find a job to pay the rent, Harris returned home to Dumfries and began posting homemade solo recordings to his MySpace page. Personal life Forbes began reporting on Harris' earnings in 2013, calculating that he earned $46 million between May 2012 and May 2013, for his music, tour and his residency in Las Vegas which placed him as the highest-paid DJ of the year. In 2014, Harris came in at number one on the list again for the second consecutive year with a total of $66 million in annual earnings. In 2015 Harris was ranked the 17th highest-paid celebrity and as the world's highest-paid electronic dance music artist with annual earnings of $66 million due to his endorsements and music. In The Sunday Times Rich List published in April 2015, Harris was ranked the 30th richest British millionaire in music, with a personal fortune of £70 million ($105 million). In August 2015, Harris topped the ''Forbes' ''Highest-paid DJs list with $66 million earnings last year. Harris began dating British singer Rita Ora in May 2013. The two collaborated together on her single "I Will Never Let You Down". They broke up in June 2014. In March 2015, Harris started dating American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. By June 2015, the duo were ranked as the highest-paid celebrity couple over the past year by Forbes with combined earnings of over $146 million. Category:Boyfriends of Taylor Swift